News Archives: Student Life

BROWNWOOD – September 20, 2016 – Howard Payne University’s fall 2016 semester is underway with lots of new faces around campus. The number of first-year students – 321 – at the Brownwood campus is HPU’s second-largest class in 16 years.

Undergraduate and graduate enrollment at HPU’s three locations – the main campus in Brownwood and extension centers in New Braunfels and El Paso – totals 1,189 students, an increase from fall 2015. The figure includes 408 first-year students and transfer students.

“We are very blessed to have this amazing group of students join the HPU community this fall,” said Kevin Kirk, associate vice president for enrollment management. “They are truly a class full of leaders who have brought a strong spirit of service and energy to the campus.”

More information about Howard Payne University is available online at www.hputx.edu.

###

Photo cutline: Members of HPU’s incoming class of students pose for a “selfie” photo with Kevin Kirk, associate vice president for enrollment management, at a new-student event before the start of the semester. Kirk leads the group in the “Sting ‘em” cheer familiar to HPU Yellow Jackets.

BROWNWOOD – September 15, 2016 – Howard Payne University will host Encounter Week fall revival services next Monday, September 19, through Wednesday, September 21. This year’s guest speaker is Dave Edwards and worship will be led by Roger Cullins.

Dave Edwards is the founder of Dave Edwards Ministries, located in Oklahoma City. For more than a decade, he has been sharing his unique brand of ministry to a postmodern generation by traveling the country and speaking to young adults in churches and a variety of other places. His goal is to help students and young adults discover the importance of a Christ-centered lifestyle.

Roger Cullins is a 2003 graduate of HPU and is the worship pastor at Bay Area Baptist Church in League City. As a worship leader, Cullins loves leading people to experience the life-changing presence and power of God. He also has a passion to personally encourage worship pastors and leaders to discover God’s empowerment in their lives and ministries.

Services will be held in HPU’s Mims Auditorium at 10:00 a.m. Monday through Wednesday and at 7:30 p.m. on Monday and Tuesday. All Encounter Week services are open to the public.

“It is always exciting to start off a new year and get to experience Encounter Week at HPU,” said Corey Ash, associate professor of music, director of bands and Wednesday chapel coordinator. “We have some fantastic individuals coming to lead us this year and there are going to be great opportunities for all of us to encounter God and have Him move in our lives during the week. The public is encouraged to attend any of the services and be ready to receive a great blessing.”

###

Photo cutlines: (Top) Dave Edwards, founder of Dave Edwards Ministries, is the scheduled speaker for HPU’s Encounter Week services.
(Bottom) Roger Cullins, worship pastor at Bay Area Baptist Church in League City, will lead worship at HPU’s Encounter Week services.

BROWNWOOD – September 9, 2016 – Howard Payne University held a memorial event for 9/11 today at which students were invited to place American flags around the university’s Bell Towers. The event was sponsored by HPU’s Student Government Association. Pictured is HPU junior Devin Caraway, from Cisco.

BROWNWOOD – August 29, 2016 – Howard Payne University began its fall 2016 Chapel and Student Assembly season last week with its annual University Convocation ceremony. Dr. Dalton Bigbee ’69, professor of finance at Northeastern State University, addressed the audience.

BROWNWOOD – August 29, 2016 – Howard Payne University’s Sarahi Castillo, a senior kinesiology major from El Paso, has been selected to receive a UPS Scholarship in the amount of $2,600 provided by the ICUT Foundation and its national partner, the Council of Independent Colleges (CIC).

Castillo is the daughter of Maria C. Medina and Larry Medina of El Paso and a 2013 graduate of Montwood High School. She is also a member of the HPU women’s basketball team.

At the national level, CIC teams up with the UPS Foundation to distribute funding of the UPS Scholarship. Through this program this year, the ICUT Foundation awarded $101,400 in UPS Scholarships to 39 students at private institutions across Texas.

The Council of Independent Colleges (CIC) is an association of 765 nonprofit independent colleges and universities and higher education affiliates and organizations that has worked since 1956 to support college and university leadership, advance institutional excellence, and enhance public understanding of private higher education’s contributions to society. CIC is the major national organization that focuses on providing services to leaders of independent colleges and universities as well as conferences, seminars, and other programs that help institutions improve educational quality, administrative and financial performance, and institutional visibility. CIC conducts the largest annual conferences of college and university presidents and of chief academic officers. CIC also provides support to state associations that organize programs and generate contributions for their member colleges and universities, including the ICUT Foundation. The Council is headquartered at One Dupont Circle in Washington, DC. For more information, visit www.cic.edu.
###

During Jacket Journey, new students spent their first week in residence halls, learned about HPU traditions and campus life and met faculty, staff and upperclassmen leaders.

HPU hosted Chime In on Friday, August 21, during which the new students were officially welcomed to the university. The participants ceremoniously walked through the university’s Wilson Gate before arriving at HPU’s Old Main Tower to sing the alma mater for the first time together as a class. As graduating seniors, the students will in turn participate in Chime Out, symbolically leaving HPU through the Wilson Gate.

A variety of games, workshops and team-building events were also held. A church social was hosted by the university’s Baptist Student Ministry and local churches. Students also participated in Serving With A Right Motive (S.W.A.R.M.), a community-service event.

Now is the time to apply for HPU’s spring or fall 2017 semester. The Heart of Texas Scholarship, paid over four years, is automatically awarded to students from the Heart of Texas area who meet unconditional admission requirements and enroll full-time in the fall and spring semesters. Qualifying students will have graduated from high schools or homeschools in Brown, Callahan, Coleman, Comanche, Eastland, McCulloch, Mills and San Saba counties. For more information about this scholarship and other opportunities awaiting students at HPU, contact the Office of Admission at (325) 649-8020 or enroll@hputx.edu. More information may also be found online at www.hputx.edu.

Cutlines:

Approximately 320 freshmen and 50 transfer students participated in HPU’s Jacket Journey orientation this past week.

HPU freshmen and new transfer students walk through the Wilson Gate during Chime In, one of the many traditions for new students at the university.

HPU students participate in community-service events around Brownwood during S.W.A.R.M. this past weekend.

BROWNWOOD – May 3, 2016 – Six Howard Payne University students were recently honored for acts of servant leadership on campus and in the community. The awards were presented during HPU’s annual Servant Leadership Program.

“We are pleased to be able to honor students who have distinguished themselves through service to others,” said Dr. Donnie Auvenshine, professor of Christian studies and dean of HPU’s School of Christian Studies. “Servant leaders do not serve others in order to be recognized, of course, but we are happy to honor those students who have honored HPU and Christ through their acts of service.”

Xavier McFalls, senior exercise and sport science major from Amarillo, and Kelsan Wolverton, senior cross-cultural studies major from Lampasas, were presented the Nat Tracy Servant Leader Award. HPU Servant Leadership Awards were presented to juniors Jaclyn Bonner, communication major from Lytle; Joshua Dykes, youth ministry and Guy D. Newman Honors Academy major from Mount Pleasant; TaShana Hooker, music instrumental major from Carrollton; and Dillon Hughes, youth ministry major from Plano.

The Nat Tracy Servant Leader Award was established in 1998 to honor the life of the late Dr. Nat Tracy, a member of HPU’s Bible faculty from 1950-1975.

Xavier McFalls has participated in the Fellowship of Christian Athletes all four years at HPU and as a leader within the organization for two years. He has also participated in the Baptist Student Ministry through which he led the athlete discipleship ministry. He additionally served as captain of HPU’s football team and as chaplain within HPU’s Student Government Association among other leadership roles on campus.

Kelsan Wolverton has also participated in numerous roles and activities on campus including serving with Jacket Ambassadors, the Student Activities Committee, the Student Planning Committee and the BSM. She additionally served as historian and president of HPU’s Ministerial Alliance and as chaplain and president of the Alpha Psi Omega organization. She has been a student worker for the Office of University Services throughout her HPU career.

Established in 2007 by the Moore Foundation and Barney II Foundation, the HPU Servant Leadership Award recognizes student excellence in the areas of leadership and service. A $1,000 scholarship is provided to each recipient of the award, and each student designates $250 of the scholarship award to be given to his or her chosen charity.

Jaclyn Bonner serves as a resident assistant in HPU’s Veda Hodge Hall, as president of Gamma Beta Phi, as a columnist for the Yellow Jacket student newspaper and as the HPU representative on the executive committee of the Christian Association of Student Leaders. Additionally, she is active with the Student Government Association, Model United Nations and numerous other organizations.

Joshua Dykes serves as a resident assistant in HPU’s Jennings Hall and is a member of the Student Government Association, Mock Trial, the BSM and several other on-campus organizations. He additionally began a men’s Bible study in his residence hall and assisted with founding HPU’s Spanish Club so that students could be enabled to spread the Gospel to Spanish-speaking people.

TaShana Hooker serves as a student worker for HPU’s School of Music and Fine Arts and as a three-year member of the Yellow Jacket Band through which she was named head drum major. She is the vice president of HPU’s chapter of the Tau Beta Sigma National Honorary Band Sorority and has served on mission trips through the BSM.

Dillon Hughes has participated each semester at HPU with the BSM and the Ministerial Alliance. He has additionally served in the student ministry at Brownwood’s Coggin Baptist Church and Southside Baptist Church and has gone on mission trips with the BSM and Texas Baptists’ Go Now Missions.

Nominations for both the Nat Tracy Servant Leader Award and the HPU Servant Leadership Award are solicited each spring from HPU staff, faculty and students.

“This year, 18 different members of the faculty, staff or student body nominated 12 different students for the awards,” said Dr. Auvenshine. “This is the largest number of people making nominations and the largest number of nominees we have had in several years. We felt that all 12 of the nominees were deserving of recognition. I’m thankful to serve at a university that values servant-leadership qualities among its students.”

BROWNWOOD – April 22, 2016 – Howard Payne University recently recognized 32 students named to the 2016 edition of “Who’s Who Among Students in American Universities and Colleges.”

Nominees must be college juniors, seniors or graduate students who have been noted for their academic abilities, participation and leadership in academic and extracurricular activities, citizenship, service to HPU and potential for future achievement.

“We’re very proud to honor these students for their exceptional achievements,” said Dr. Magen Bunyard, vice president for student life and dean of students.

BROWNWOOD – April 6, 2016 – Growing up, the Wolverton sisters each had different thoughts of where they might attend college someday. Their parents, Kelly and Susan Wolverton, taught each of them to follow God’s leading in their lives. Even though they share the same last name, Kelsan, Sharon and Spencer Wolverton have all made individual names for themselves in their majors and hobbies while following God’s lead at Howard Payne University.

Kelsan, the oldest sister and senior cross-cultural studies major, wasn’t always sure that HPU was where she wanted to attend college. However, after all of the positive outreach she received from HPU faculty and staff during her senior year in high school, Kelsan felt that God was indeed leading her to the university.

“It is the best thing that the Lord could have done in my life,” said Kelsan. “Everything I prayed about wanting in college has happened at HPU, like finding Christian friends, having great professors who care about me and lots of other wonderful opportunities.”

Kelsan will graduate this May and plans to partner with a non-profit organization by traveling to Laos to teach college students for a year.

Although Kelsan may have originally doubted HPU was the place for her, Sharon, the middle sister and junior elementary education major, says she always knew that she wanted to attend HPU, especially after attending one of the university’s summer camps at a young age.

“Even in eighth grade, I already felt Howard Payne was my home,” said Sharon. “One thing that I prayed was that I would make godly friends at HPU who would challenge me and love me for who I am, and that has happened during my time here.”

Youngest sister Spencer, a freshman kinesiology major, was a bit apprehensive about coming to HPU and being in the shadows of her sisters’ accomplishments. Like them, she wanted to be her own person. Coming to HPU confirmed that she could indeed do that while attending the same university.

“The good thing about HPU is that each person has the opportunity to be involved in so many different things and you can really be yourself,” said Spencer. “The three of us all do different things on campus and HPU encourages us to use our talents in areas such as student government, social clubs and mission opportunities, just to name a few. Everyone can make a difference here in their own ways.”

The Wolverton sisters each have individual personalities, talents and goals, but they do enjoy spending time together when they can by watching movies, eating out and encouraging each other during tough times.

“We watch out for each other even though we may not see each other that much,” said Sharon. “We love each other and enjoy being close.”

Kelly, 1996 HPU graduate and pastor of Hampton Road Baptist Church in DeSoto, is very happy that all three of his daughters chose his alma mater.

“I like that they chose to go to HPU because I knew they would excel in the Christian family environment that the school offers,” said Kelly. “I appreciate the faculty and staff at HPU because you aren’t just a number. At HPU, you are a person who is loved like family.”

###

Photo cutline: (From left) Sharon, Kelsan and Spencer Wolverton enjoy their time as students as HPU.

BROWNWOOD – March 30, 2016 – HPU Fest, Howard Payne University’s annual outdoor music festival, will kick off Saturday, April 9, at 3 p.m. with a full day’s worth of music, food and activities. This year’s headliners are Josh Wilson and Jason Gray with special guest JJ Heller. The lineup also includes Love and War, Atlas Mason and Sun City. HPU students James King, freshman from McGregor, and Joshua Varnes, freshman from Universal City, will also perform.

In addition to HPU students and personnel, the community is welcome to attend. HPU Fest will take place at the university’s Old Main Park, the grassy area along Austin Avenue. There is no charge for admission.

HPU’s Student Activities Council and various organizations on campus will put together a number of booths and activities including inflatables, cotton candy and the annual HPU Fest Chili Cook-Off. Prizes will be awarded for hottest chili and tastiest chili.

Sodexo, HPU’s food service provider, will also serve a meal that can be purchased with a student ID card, cash or check.

“HPU Fest is one of the most popular student events on campus,” said Francie Clark, director of student activities. “The community is welcome to join us for this free and fun event.”